Miguel Vazquez was just 17 years old when he became the first trapeze artist ever to perform a quadruple somersault during a show in 1982, an accomplishment that earned mention mention at the time on the NBC Nightly News and write-ups in TIME and The New York Times. Now he returns to Sarasota for the premiere of a documentary revisiting his accomplishment. The Last Great Circus Flyer will host its world premiere as part of the Sarasota Film Festival line-up on April 17.

“I’m very glad this is happening, if not for anything else just to make a record of what we did,” Vazquez told SRQ. “Sometimes you learn of great circus performances in the past, but there is not much you can do to go back and look it up. This was a good opportunity to have that, to have a documentary anybody can go to.”

Filmmaker Philip Weyland, in his first turn as a documentarian, tracked down Vazquez and other professional trapeze artists to discuss the dangers and rewards of the profession. Much of the film was done through interviews in Sarasota, and Weyland said it was always his hope to premier the piece at the festival. “I didn’t consider any other film festival,” Weyland tells SRQ Backlot. “This film is about people who lived in Sarasota, who live in Sarasota and is of interest to the people who live in Sarasota.”

Vazquez, who now lives in Las Vegas but was a Sarasota resident when he performed with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, will attend the premiere, his second major trip to Sarasota this year for some kind of honorific. He was inducted into the Ring of Fame last year, and attended a ceremony in St. Armands Circle. The Last Great Circus Flyer premiers on April 17 at the Regal Hollywood 20 at 3pm. 

Read interviews with Vazquez and Weyland at SRQBacklot.com

As part of the Ringling College Digital Filmmaking Studio Lab’s ongoing commitment to bringing top-notch talent to its students, award-winning actor Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1) is visiting the campus this week, touring the facilities and teaching a master class for a group of young filmmakers. In between teaching and sightseeing, the Tony and Emmy Award-winning performer made a little time to talk Ringling, his artistic process and what he learned from the world’s response to the recent Ebola outbreak.

“This is a very interesting space that students are allowed to explore,” said Wright after a tour of the college grounds. “There are two seemingly competing things happening.” On one hand he noted rigorous technical preparation equipping students with the proper skills to engage the industry side of the arts world. Whether it be graphic design, animation or computer modeling, there will be an industrial aspect, Wright noted. “But at the same time, there’s such a fascinating level of creativity, so that students are given an opportunity to express that imaginative process, the visual dreams that they generate.”

“It’s seemingly contradictory,” Wright continued. “It’s very exciting for that reason.”

In addition to a presentation and Q and A tonight in the Academic Center Auditorium, Wright will be leading a master class with a select group of young directors and filmmakers from Ringling, giving them the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from an experienced professional. “It’s great that there are young filmmakers who want to gain some understanding of what the process is for an actor,” said Wright. “Because most directors really don’t know what actors do.”

A director may work on five films in 10 years, but in that same time an actor could see as many as 30 roles, according to Wright, creating an entirely different mindset. This affects communication between collaborators, he says, and inhibits the director’s ability to get the best performance from the cast. He hopes to bridge that gap. “If I can share that, I will gladly” he said laughing, “so they don’t go through life torturing actors.” 

Photo Credit: Evan Sigmund

To read the entire interview with Jeffrey Wright, go to SRQBacklot.com.

The Arbor Day Foundation awarded Sarasota County the "Tree City USA" designation for 2014, based on the county's demonstration of environmental improvement and higher level of tree care.  Sarasota County achieved Tree City USA recognition by meeting the program's four requirements: having a tree board or department, a tree-care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation. 

The Arbor Day Foundation

AirFlyte, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rectrix Commercial Aviation Services, received a Federal Aviation Administration certification recognizing the company as a national Certified Repair Station, allowing the company to provide full maintenance of corporate jet aircraft at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. AirFlyte is located at the Rectrix Aerodrome Center Hangarminium site in Sarasota. AirFlyte, founded in 1988 in Massachusetts, was acquired by Rectrix in January 2013. 

Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport

With tonight’s crowd of 7,329 for the final home game of Orioles Spring Training at Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles have drawn a total of 112,258 fans for 15 home games in Sarasota this season. This year, the club set a franchise record with an average per game attendance of 7,484, topping the previous record average of 7,454 set during the 2014 Spring Training season. The Orioles also tied a franchise record with nine sellouts this spring, including a record eight consecutive sellouts from March 7-22. 

Baltimore Orioles